Phil Gollin
While the actions of the crew in the last, doubtless frenetic, seconds of the flight are both interesting and admirable - so far as I am concerned - I have to say I share Phil Gollin's concerns that 'eyes have been taken off the ball.' His well researched and knowledgable post should really have put questions of flaps raised or not, to one side. The reason those two gentlemen, plus all their crew and passengers were in that terrifying situation is because two of the most beautifully engineered machines for producing thrust, didn't. Both at the same time, give or take a few seconds.
I joined this forum because the circumstances of BA038 were, to this uninvolved bystander engineer, quite simply; staggering. Unbelievable. And yet today the report uses the word 'probably'. Entrained ice in the fuel probably caused the engines to 'choke' simultaneously. However, unless I've missed some big numbers somewhere, it seems quite extraodinary that so little water could choke such big engines at such a critical moment in the flight.
It appears to my untrained eye that the engines were consuming fuel at varying rates - in the last twenty odd seconds - but between one and two kilograms per second. Phil Gollin's text stated that it was estimated that there was a total of 5.14 Lt of water in all the fuel in the aeroplane at take off and sucked in during the flight. It just seems too little, because if all the water in the tanks suddenly arrived at the delivery system in the last few seconds, it would still only represent about 10% of the fuel being consumed at the time.
Since entrained water and ice in fuel systems has been endemic all through the history of high altitude, high speed flight and certainly during the whole operating career of the 777 - a lovely aeroplane to my mind - why hasn't it happend before?
Perhaps it has been decided to apply the principle of Occam's Razor and accept that ice is 'probably' the cause. Although I apply the principle myself in my own job often enough, the pricking of my engineer's thumbs suggests to me that something, somewhere has been forgotten.
Roger.